Welp, No “Xena Warrior Princess” Reboot Happening At NBC

Sorry to those of you who were looking forward to the proposed Xena: Warrior Princess reboot at NBC, but the project is hanging out with Hades in Tartarus. That means it’s dead, very very dead.

NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke said the proposed revival in its ‘most recent form’ will not be going forward. Salke told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement today that:

Nothing is happening on that right now. We looked at some material; we decided at that point that it didn’t warrant the reboot. I’d never say never on that one because it’s such a beloved title, but the current incarnation of it is dead.

Back in April, Javier Grillo-Marxuach (who was originally bringing the reboot to the network) left the proposed series, citing the all encompassing “creative differences”. One of which was his desire to explore the romantic relationship between Xena played by Lucy Lawless and Gabrielle played by Renee O’Connor as seen in the original show.

Lucy Lawless as Xena and Renee O’Connor as Gabrielle

Fans of the original series were torn about this project from the first rumblings, the idea of having beloved characters returning to tv but with different actresses will always have a split reaction. Even more so with two leading ladies who’s character relationships are the thing of fandom legend. This of course is about the belief by many that the characters of Xena and Gabrielle were far more than just companions.

The Xena-Gabrielle relationship was of course toyed with during the first run of the show, their adventures at times hedging on the true nature of their feelings for eachother that went far deeper than “just friends”. Lucy Lawless even commented on the now famous series finale, where the pair share a kiss saying “it wasn’t just that Xena was bisexual and kinda liked her gal pal and they kind of fooled around sometimes, it was, ‘Nope, they’re married, man.’”

Salke went on to say that NBC does remains open to doing a Xena reboot/revival, if the right story and showrunner come along, saying she needed someone to “come in with a point of view about what they want to do.”

For many a 90’s kid, Xena was our generation’s Wonder Woman, and we didn’t want to see her rebooted. But, maybe in time, the right project will bring her back from the Summerland.